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Skilled Trades Association January - February 2005 Archive February 2005 Feb 28, 2005 - In an article on the web site "The Car Connection" there is an article today that talks about the temporary shutdowns that clearly are setbacks for General Motors in what has become an increasingly grim winter for the automaker. This might partially explain the slowdowns at the St. Catharines plants. In "Trades News Articles"
GM is going to start exporting the Cadillac SRX to China, it's second model in the Chinese market. Let's hope the majority of them have HFV6 engines from St. Catharines. Soon the SUV will be exported the Europe as well. In "Trades News Articles"
Feb 27, 2005 - Buzz Hargrove says in an article on the CAW web site, "And investments in St. Catharines would help GM's powertrain operations stay ahead of the environmental curve, producing components for high-tech variable displacement engines and fuel-efficient transmissions." Thanks to Dan Murray for the link in "Trades News Articles"
Feb 26, 2005 - The Canadian government said on Friday it was close to signing a voluntary pact with major automobile makers to cut emissions and made it clear it was rejecting calls to impose binding limits. Thanks to Dan Murray for the link in "Trades News Articles"
Feb 25, 2005 - Joe Volpe, Citizenship and Immigration Minister, said Wednesday the next share of the $1-billion automotive and aerospace manufacturing fund will go to General Motors of Canada. I have reproduced the article from Thursday's St. Catharines Standard in "Trades News Articles"
Feb 24, 2005 - General Motors, Ford Motors and Chrysler will survive and--someday--prosper. Not next week, but someday they will be strong again. Even GM, even after $2 billion paid for the incredibly wasteful Fiat payoff. Read the full story in "Trades News Articles"
Feb 23, 2005 - This article is a week old but still timely. It gives a bit of an insight into this years contract negotiations with quotes from Buzz and St. Catharines is mentioned. Read the full story in "Trades News Articles"
Feb 22, 2005 - We have published a story entitled "Quality Extraordinaire?" in the "Soap Box" area. This story from Papa Dez gives his account of a quality meeting that he attended on the Agile block line recently. I bet management wished they hadn't invited the trades.
Toyota will likely add two more assembly plants in North America by the end of the decade as part of a strategy to capture a larger share of the world's biggest auto market. Read the full story in "Trades News Articles"
Feb 21, 2005 - General Motors has taken the unusual step of quietly lowering sticker prices in the U.S. by up to $2,000 on some of its most popular SUVs after a sudden sales slip. Read the full story in "Trades News Articles"
Feb 20, 2005 - I would like to invite everyone to read Gary's article regarding his personal methods of coping with job loss. Gary spent countless hours writing it in the hope that it might help someone out through a difficult time. The majority of the hits this site gets from Google or MSN search are sadly regarding some sort of job loss. Great job Gary!
Feb 19, 2005 - Industry concerns about an overcrowded Chinese automobile market are "overblown", General Motors Corp.'s top executive in China said on Friday, and he predicted the country's car market will grow 10-15 percent annually for the foreseeable future. Read the full story in "Trades News Articles" Feb 17, 2005 - As Canada entered the brave new world of Kyoto Wednesday, auto makers talked in Toronto about offering more environmentally friendly vehicles and put many on display, even as they kept bragging about horsepower and kept rolling out the muscle cars. Read the full story in "Trades News Articles" Feb 15, 2005 - General Motors Corp. was warned of another possible cut in its debt rating on Monday, a day after the world's largest automaker said it would spend about $2 billion to end its troubled alliance with Fiat Spa. Read the full story in "Trades News Articles".
Feb 14, 2005 - Fiat SpA was free to try to turn around its fortunes on its own Monday, helped along by the injection of $2 billion from General Motors Corp. under a deal that releases the U.S. auto giant from an obligation to buy Fiat's ailing car unit. In "Trades News Articles".
Feb 12, 2005 - General Motors Corp. spends $4 billion a year more than its largest global competitor, Toyota Motor Corp., for employee and retiree health care, GM Chairman Rick Wagoner said Thursday. Read the full story in "Trades News Articles".
Feb 11, 2005 - CAW 222 in Oshawa publishes their monthly newsletter called Oshaworker online monthly. The newsletter has an average of 60 pages every month so there is a wealth of information. There are many reports from various Skilled Trades reps. Thanks to Geoff Fehrman for the link in the "Automotive News Sources" area.
Added a few more links in the "Trades jobs and education links" area of the site.
Feb 10, 2005 - Doug Orr's Chairperson's report for February the 10th is posted on the CAW 199 web site. Buyouts and the shortage of work going into the contract are discussed. You will also find a link in the "Trades News Articles".
General Motors Corp., in the U.S. that is facing a $1 billion increase in medical costs this year, is taking the offensive on health care. You will also find a link in the "Trades News Articles".
Feb 7, 2005 - The February 4th Chairpersons report from Doug Orr is on the CAW199 web site. You will also find a link in the "Trades News Articles".
Feb 6, 2005 - The new Suzuki X-Concept that will be built in the Cami plant in Ingersoll will be powered by a GM-designed 3.6-liter, V-6 engine produced in Japan. The engine, which has an aluminum block and cylinder head, is derived from GM's global family of V-6 engines that is currently being built in St. Catharines. St. Catharines couldn't build the engines? Read the full story in "Trades News Articles".
Feb 5, 2005 - The federal government is within days of reaching a voluntary agreement with carmakers to produce vehicles that burn less fuel and emit fewer greenhouse emissions, says Transport Minister Jean Lapierre. Read the full story in "Trades News Articles".
Perhaps the Big Three domestic automakers should move their headquarters to Toronto. The Canadian government reports that 2004 was the first time more vehicles were built in the province of Ontario than in the state of Michigan. In "Trades News Articles"
Feb 2, 2005 - Canada's automakers are proposing to meet their Kyoto obligations by supporting emissions-cutting projects in other industries and other countries rather than improving fuel efficiency in the vehicles they make, sources say. In "Trades News Articles"
Gas-guzzling luxury cars and big SUVs might be withheld from the Canadian market in coming years if Ottawa makes good on threats to impose fuel-efficiency standards, auto industry representatives say. Read the full story in "Trades News Articles".
January 2005 Jan 31, 2005 - Placing it's bet on the idea that safety sells, GM said on Sunday that it will soon offer its OnStar satellite-based communications system and electronic stability control on all GM vehicles sold in the United States and Canada. In "Trades News Articles"
Jan 30, 2005 - Hourly employees at Ford's Windsor, Ontario, engine plant have unanimously voted to not work overtime in an effort to force the automaker to recall laid-off workers. Nearly 330 CAW members are on layoff, and Ford had plans to idle 100 more workers next month. Those plans now are on hold. Read the full story in "Trades News Articles".
Jan 29, 2005 - Many of you will remember the "GM Drive Time" news that plays in the plants on the in-plant monitors. Nothing but GM news that is blatantly biased towards the General. I thought some of you might get a chuckle watching it once in a while so I have added a link to the site in the "Automotive News Sources" about three quarters down the page.
Jan 28, 2005 - Health care costs are slowly killing General Motors. $5.1-billion U.S. in employee benefits is only increasing and the numbers are truly scary for the U.S. auto maker. Good news for Canada? Read the full story in "Trades News Articles".
Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles -- and the hydrogen stations to support them -- are coming to New York, thanks to an aggressive plan rolled out jointly today by General Motors Corp. and Shell Hydrogen LLC. Read the full story in "Trades News Articles".
Jan 26, 2005 - General Motors said it would spend $175 million to retool its truck assembly plant near Fort Wayne, Ind., to prepare it for production of new full-size pickup models. Read the full story in "Trades News Articles".
General Motors Corp. will not replace a top advertising executive as part of an overall push to slim down its marketing and sales operations. In "Trades News Articles"
Jan 25, 2005 - Yesterday the financial gurus at GM must have been biting their collective nails as Standard and Poors threatened to reduce GM's credit rating to junk bond status. Today, the pressure has subsided a bit. Read the full story in "Trades News Articles".
Jan 15, 2005 - General Motors Corp., the world's biggest automaker, on Thursday reiterated its earnings expectations for 2004 but warned of lower profits this year, in part because of higher health care expenses and lower anticipated results at its finance arm. In "Trades News Articles"
Jan 14, 2005 - CAW199 is upset that engine plant workers received little notice about a one-week layoff starting Jan. 17. It’s the second time this month that scant warning was given about temporary layoffs in St. Catharines. In "Trades News Articles"
Jan 13, 2005 - General Motors Corp. has sold it's locomotive unit including a plant in London, Ontario to two private U.S. equity groups. In "Trades News Articles"
Jan 11, 2005 - Canada, while a lower cost manufacturer than the United States, is “not low cost,” General Motors Corp. chairman Rick Wagoner told a group of Canadian reporters at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. “We can't be naive about that.” In "Trades News Articles"
Jan 10, 2005 - GM Canada will trim its overall workforce in 2005 but the Canadian arm of General Motors doesn't have a specific target, said spokesman Stew Low. You can read the article in "Trades News Articles"
Toyota is coming on strong, but GM won't give up its spot as the world's No. 1 automaker without a fight. "We've been ahead for 73 years in a row", GM Chairman Rick Wagoner said Sunday. Read the full story in "Trades News Articles".
Jan 9, 2005 - The top two auto shows in the U.S., the Detroit and the L.A. auto shows are now on. GM has some pretty awesome vehicles coming to the market in the next while. Read about all of the vehicles and see tons of pictures at the link in "Trades News Articles".
Jan 8, 2005 - An article in the Jan. 7th edition of Niagara this Week quotes a report from the Conference Board of Canada inaccurately stating that the GM St. Catharines X22F project creates jobs for 100 new employees. Read Bob Bowman's letter to the editor in "Your Letters"
Jan 7, 2005 - Doug Orr, CAW Local 199 unit chairman for both GM plants in St. Catharines, called the amalgamation of all of the plants under one umbrella management group an “intelligent” move. Read the full story in "Trades News Articles".
The CAW has met with the Ontario government stating that they must implement improvements to apprenticeship training to ensure the province and industry provides youth and existing workers with the opportunity to become skilled workers. Read the full story in "Trades News Articles".
Jan 6, 2005 - The 2006 Impala built in Oshawa is getting a redesign that will hit the streets this year. At the L.A. Auto Show, GM hopes to create excitement for the car that for the first time in years will be available with a 303 hp V8 engine. In "Trades News Articles"
General Motors, the world's largest automaker, said today that it's sales in China rose 27.2 percent last year. It's almost as though GM can't build the cars fast enough. You can read the article in "Trades News Articles"
Jan 5, 2005 - GM sales for 2004, despite some of the industry's most generous discounts, suffered a 3 percent decline in December -- and a 1 percent drop for the year. reflecting a dearth of new cars and trucks. In "Trades News Articles"
Jan 2, 2005 - Do you remember the Bricklin that was built in a Canadian plant in the 70s? Malcolm Bricklin, the man behind that company, as well as the Yugo, is now going to start importing 250,000 Chinese built Chery cars into the U.S. starting in 2007. In "Trades News Articles"
Jan 1, 2005 - Hope everyone had a good New Years! At a house party last night someone mentioned an article that was in the Welland Tribune before Christmas. I don't get the Tribune so I went recycle bin divin' at the neighbours today. Nothing new really but a local twist with a few quotes from Doug Orr and Walt Lastewka. What we won't do for a story! You can find this, the first article of the year in "Trades News Articles".
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